Parasitic infections are major veterinary and public health problems. As an illustration, approximately one third of the world population is infected with a parasitic nematode at any one time. Infections in livestock typically lead to death and a loss of yield. In humans infections generally cause morbidity as opposed to death. The medical effects can be severe; including anaemia, impaired cognitive, physiological and immunological development.
Currently, treatment of nematode infections relies on a small range of pharmaceuticals. Resistance to these drugs is widespread in agriculture and emerging in humans. Resistance is currently a multi-billion dollar burden on agriculture and a potentially major medical problem.
Human infections are typically treated by administration of mebendazole and livestock are frequently treated empirically with mebendazole (or derivatives) or ivermectin. Such blanket drug administration underlies the widespread drug resistance problems in agriculture. No vaccines are presently available against parasitic nematode infections.
There is thus a need for alternative therapies for parasitic infections that are not associated with the disadvantages and problems mentioned above.